The subsequent development of the Boer War was beyond the expectations of the countries. The performance of the Boer army surprised all countries, and of course even more surprised the performance of the British army.

On 12 October, the day after the declaration of war, the Boer coalition consisting of the Transvaal Army and the Orange Armed Forces marched eastward. The commander-in-chief of the Brunese Army, General Piert Jouber, led the main force from East Orange over the Drakensberg Hills, into the colony of Natal, and attacked Leddy Smith, the main force of the British army in Natal.

In the early morning of 20 October, the advancing troops engaged in a battle at Mount Tarana with a brigade of British troops stationed here defending the outer line of Leddy Smith. The commander of the Brazzaville army, General Meir, took advantage of the favorable terrain and the cover of the morning fog to launch a surprise attack on the British army. The British lost 544 men and the Burnese lost 126 men.

Another arm, commanded by General Delarry, known as the "Lion of the West Transvaal", entered British Bechuanaland on 11 October, cutting off the Western Cape Railway and thus cutting off the Cape from Rhodesia. De La Rey divided his forces into two lines, one under the command of General Cronye, besieging Mafretin, and the other (mainly Orange), commanded by Louis Botha, besieging the diamond town of Kimberley.

The third armies crossed the Orange River and absorbed small groups of Boer forces from the British Cape colonies and operated in the northeastern part of the Cape, threatening the East-West Cape railway line. The British had to defend the Orange River Railroad Bridge tightly to guard against Boer attempts to blow it up.

Dear, the most important railway junction on the Western Cape railway line and a distribution center for military supplies, was also harassed by the Boers. In order to protect the normal passage of the East and West Cape Railway, the British had to install 4.7-inch naval guns on the trains, slowly advance under cover, and repair the railway in small sections.

On 30 October 1899, Leddy Smith's 4,000 British troops, under the command of Lieutenant General George White, launched a counteroffensive against the Boeros Aires, encountering the main force of the Boeros forces under the command of Joubert at Nicholson Canyon. The British army was defeated and lost 1,372 men, and the rest retreated to Ladysmith, where they were immediately surrounded.

Due to the tight defense of Leddy Smith, Joubert could not attack the city several times, so he sent reconnaissance troops deep into the heart of the British army, as far as the front line of Estcourt, to reconnoiter the places that could be used to hold on. The rest of the main force camped around Ladysmith and awaited the arrival of the British Overseas Corps.

At the end of October, 20,000 British troops led by the commander-in-chief of the British reinforcements (the South African Expeditionary Force), Admiral Redfuss Buller, who had suppressed the local uprising in Ireland, finally reached Cape Town.

Beginning in mid-November, the British army under the command of Buller launched a counteroffensive against the Burundi army on three fronts: eastern, central, and western. Lieutenant General Messuin lifted the Kimberley siege on the Western Front, Lieutenant General French attacked the Orange Free State on the Central Front, and General Buller led the main force to lift the Raidy Smith encirclement on the Eastern Front.

In the early morning of 15 December, Admiral Buller launched an assault on the Boo Cloth forces at Coronso, a small station southwest of Ladissmith, in an attempt to force the crossing of the Tuguela River to Ladismith.

Buller commanded 16,000 men from the 2nd, 4th, 5th, and 6th British Brigades, as well as four light cavalry regiments and three squadrons of lancers from colonial cavalry. The artillery consisted of 5 artillery batteries and 30 cannons, in addition to 16 naval 12-pounder guns and 4.7-inch guns. Including cavalry and artillery, the total strength of Buller was 22,000 men.

The Boer forces involved in the Battle of Corenzo included militia groups from eight districts, including Johannesburg, Heidelberg, Krugersdorp, Freyhead, and Utrecht, troops from the Orange Free State, and white police forces from Johannesburg and Eswatini, totaling 3,500 men. In addition, there is a 120-mm German-made Krupp howitzer, 1 75-mm Krupp field gun, 2 75-mm French Schneid-Kruso cannons, 1 37-mm Maxim rapid-fire gun, and 24 Maxim machine guns.

Due to the concealment of artillery positions by the British army and the dispersion of troops and tactical rigidity due to the command errors of the British commanders, the British army suffered a heavy defeat in this battle, with 2,335 killed, 471 missing, and 15 artillery pieces lost. The Boer army suffered only 12 killed and 30 wounded.

During the same period as the Battle of Leddy Smith, the British army was also defeated at Kimberley on the Western Front and Stormberg on the Central Front, losing more than 3,500 men. In just one week, the British army lost more than 6,300 men, and the losses of the cloth army were simply negligible.

The losses of the British Empire were so large, in addition to the poor command of its own, the gap in weapons and equipment was not small. For example, in terms of artillery, although the Boers have fewer artillery, they all purchase the latest artillery from various countries, and there is another factor, that is, the Boers purchased a lot of machine guns.

Compared to the original plane, the machine gun has become even more famous. Because Italy has used machine guns extensively in several foreign wars, countries have purchased a lot of this weapon that can continue to provide fire suppression. As for the two Boer countries, they have purchased a lot of machine guns, according to the statistics of the Beretta Arms Company, the manufacturer of the Maxim heavy machine gun, the two Boer countries have purchased a total of 83 heavy machine guns. Of course, this is only a superficial statistic, but in reality it is not clear. So this time the British Empire lost more than the casualties in history.

Such a poor performance of the British army caused an uproar in various countries. As for the British side, for the incompetent Admiral Buller, he was even more blamed for resigning from the post of commander-in-chief of the British Expeditionary Force.

The British people were even more agitated by the defeat, unable to accept the defeat of the world's leading power by two small Boer states, and Prime Minister Salisbury also shouted the slogan "Carry the war to the end".

In this context, Prime Minister Salisbury first appointed Roberts as Commander-in-Chief of the South African Expeditionary Force. At the same time, troops were dispatched from all over the world in an attempt to further increase the number of troops, expand the scale of the war, and crush the small Boers with absolute superiority.

At the time of the British Empire's redeployment, a painstaking negotiation finally came to an end in the Foreign Office in St. Petersburg.

"Ambassador Golek, you are an excellent diplomat, congratulations to you and China on finally reaching a consensus."

Foreign Minister Ramzdorf, who was Russia's negotiator, sighed after shaking hands with the Italian ambassador.

"Congratulations to you and our two countries for reaching a consensus."

Ambassador Golek also replied that the negotiations in the past two months had also made him tired, but the negotiations had finally come to an end.

That's right, the contract for the purchase of battleships finally came to an end, and after two months of negotiations and bargaining, Italy and Russia also reached a consensus on the purchase of battleships.

Italy sold two Genoa-class battleships under construction to Russia, and in addition to this, Italy will also deliver a complete set of construction drawings for the Genoa-class battleships, and will also need to provide technology to the Russian side.

And for this, the Russian government needs to pay 23.5 million rubles to the Italian side. Among them, the two Genoa-class battleships were priced at 18 million rubles, and the complete set of drawings and technology was priced at 5.5 million rubles. (This is all due to the French, which has delayed the negotiations for a while)

And this contract for the purchase of ships is very satisfactory to Russia. On the one hand, the performance of the purchased battleship is very satisfactory, and on the other hand, the delivery time is also good.

Because these two battleships are directly appropriated from the Italian Navy, the delivery time will be very fast. And after the contract was signed, the Russian Navy needed to send people to Venice to prepare to familiarize themselves with the battleship first.

Of course, this ship purchase contract will be dissatisfied with Japan. However, Japan could not influence Italy's decision, so it could only endure it silently.

As for the British Empire behind Japan, this Boer War is disgraceful enough, and it is the key to deal with the cunning Boers first, and nothing else can be taken care of.